1-3God’s orders: “Go to the royal palace and deliver this Message. Say, ‘Listen to what God says, O King of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you and your officials and all the people who go in and out of these palace gates. This is God’s Message: Attend to matters of justice. Set things right between people. Rescue victims from their exploiters. Don’t take advantage of the homeless, the orphans, the widows. Stop the murdering!

4-5“‘If you obey these commands, then kings who follow in the line of David will continue to go in and out of these palace gates mounted on horses and riding in chariots—they and their officials and the citizens of Judah. But if you don’t obey these commands, then I swear—God’s Decree!—this palace will end up a heap of rubble.’”

6-7This is God’s verdict on Judah’s royal palace:

“I number you among my favorite places—

like the lovely hills of Gilead,

like the soaring peaks of Lebanon.

Yet I swear I’ll turn you into a wasteland,

as empty as a ghost town.

I’ll hire a demolition crew,

well-equipped with sledgehammers and wrecking bars,

Pound the country to a pulp

and burn it all up.

8-9“Travelers from all over will come through here and say to one another, ‘Why would God do such a thing to this wonderful city?’ They’ll be told, ‘Because they walked out on the covenant of their God, took up with other gods and worshiped them.’”

Building a Fine House but Destroying Lives

10Don’t weep over dead King Josiah.

Don’t waste your tears.

Weep for his exiled son:

He’s gone for good.

He’ll never see home again.

11-12For this is God’s Word on Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah: “He’s gone from here, gone for good. He’ll die in the place they’ve taken him to. He’ll never see home again.”

13-17“Doom to him who builds palaces but bullies people,

who makes a fine house but destroys lives,

Who cheats his workers

and won’t pay them for their work,

Who says, ‘I’ll build me an elaborate mansion

with spacious rooms and fancy windows.

I’ll bring in rare and expensive woods

and the latest in interior decor.’

So, that makes you a king—

living in a fancy palace?

Your father got along just fine, didn’t he?

He did what was right and treated people fairly,

And things went well with him.

He stuck up for the down-and-out,

And things went well for Judah.

Isn’t this what it means to know me?”

God’s Decree!

“But you’re blind and brainless.

All you think about is yourself,

Taking advantage of the weak,

bulldozing your way, bullying victims.”

18-19This is God’s epitaph on Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

“Doom to this man!

Nobody will shed tears over him,

‘Poor, poor brother!’

Nobody will shed tears over him,

‘Poor, poor master!’

They’ll give him a donkey’s funeral,

drag him out of the city and dump him.

You’ve Made a Total Mess of Your Life

20-23“People of Jerusalem, climb a Lebanon peak and weep,

climb a Bashan mountain and wail,

Climb the Abarim ridge and cry—

you’ve made a total mess of your life.

I spoke to you when everything was going your way.

You said, ‘I’m not interested.’

You’ve been that way as long as I’ve known you,

never listened to a thing I said.

All your leaders will be blown away,

all your friends end up in exile,

And you’ll find yourself in the gutter,

disgraced by your evil life.

You big-city people thought you were so important,

thought you were ‘king of the mountain’!

You’re soon going to be doubled up in pain,

pain worse than the pangs of childbirth.

24-26“As sure as I am the living God”—God’s Decree—“even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, I’d pull you off and give you to those who are out to kill you, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, and then throw you, both you and your mother, into a foreign country, far from your place of birth. There you’ll both die.

27“You’ll be homesick, desperately homesick, but you’ll never get home again.”